118 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



The causes of death and damage to Grouse not due to 

 " Grouse Disease " may be classified as follows : 



(a) Those referable to artificial conditions, such as accidental 

 consequences of sport, wire-fencing, telegraph-wires, sheep- 

 drains, vermin-traps, poison, etc. 



(b) Those referable to natural conditions, such as 

 Extremes of climate ; cold, heat, wet, snow, etc. 

 Destruction by birds and beasts of prey, so-called " vermin," 



and by the pugnacity of the Capercailzie and Blackgame. 



Exigencies of reproduction : fighting of cocks, over-sitting 

 of hens, egg-binding, gastro-uterine gestation, etc. 



Exhaustion due to moult, and to skin disease affecting the 

 growth of feathers. 



Deficient diet and starvation, due to frosted, blighted, and 

 over-age heather or to heather-pests ; deficiencies of grit and 

 water ; excessive or injudicious burning ; and feeding on 

 unwholesome foods, e.g., corn-stooks and sour grain. 



A. Causes of Death and Damage resulting from 

 Artificial Conditions. 



Under this heading there are some causes which may be 

 passed with a mere mention. 



One might do so with all, perhaps, were it not for the interest 

 attaching to some of the cases which have come under observa- 

 tion, and the light which they throw on the recuperative power 

 of birds in the wild state. Some of these cases occurred in birds 

 which had died naturally ; in others the specimen had been 

 shot, and forwarded for examination as a possible case of 

 disease. 



The following accidents are within the experience of most 

 game preservers : collision with wire fences and telegraph wires, 

 accidental damage from vermin traps, snapping by sheep dogs, 

 drowning in sheep drains or moss-cuttings, etc., and wound- 

 ing by shot. 



And of these no one can doubt that the " pricking " of 



